Ephesians: His Glorious RichesSample

After his sublime description of the work of the Trinity in the salvation of sinners, Paul turns to prayer for the Christians in Ephesus. Contemplating God should lead us to prayer. What motivates Paul to pray? It is that he has heard of their faith and love (v. 15), the genuine marks of all true believers. As Paul sits in prison, he is encouraged to realise that God is at work among these Christians. Are your brothers and sisters encouraged by what they see in you? 

Paul’s prayer is informed – he has made sure that he has found out what is happening in Ephesus. Laziness in prayer prevents us from praying realistically for each other. 

His prayer is also persistent and thankful (v. 16) – he has not stopped giving thanks for them. Paul recognises that all their blessings come from God. How do we cultivate a thankful heart? 

We now come to the substance of the prayer. It consists of three requests. The first, which we see in today’s passage, is for a deeper knowledge of God (v. 17). Humans were created to have fellowship with God, just as Adam walked with God in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8). Sin has caused estrangement, but salvation involves the restoration of relationship and the possibility of truly knowing God again. It is the greatest blessing (Jer. 9:23–24) and the ambition of God’s people (Ps. 42:1–2; Phil. 3:10–11). 

Notice once again the emphasis on the Trinity: ‘I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation’ (v. 17). God’s Spirit is the one who reveals God to us. He does so by opening our eyes to see Jesus in the Bible. Jesus is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). As the Spirit shows us Christ, so we see God and know Him as He truly is. The three members of the Trinity combine to deepen our knowledge of God. 

Do you long for your knowledge of God to grow? Do you pray this for yourself? Do you pray it for others? One of the great joys of Heaven is that we will gaze on God’s glory and spend eternity growing in our knowledge, love and adoration of Him (Rev. 7:15–17; 21:3, 22–23; 22:3–5).

Reflection

We cannot know God fully, but we can know Him truly (Jer. 31:33–34; John 14:1–6).